Beyond Framing

Last weekend was quite a challenge somehow.  I'm not quite sure if it was just how fast the framing was finished that raised the bar of efficiency, the heat, or just overall being overwhelmed, but I was struggling.  We seemed to not make very much progress this weekend.

Two projects needed to happen, and both of them, in their complexity, could have been avoided.  First, on Friday, Gabe and Dad removed the stucco siding that the framers kept as per our instruction.

Remember this funny patch that was left on the east wall?

Well, in our efforts to keep as much as possible, we decided that the stucco sagged too much and the problems this caused were too great.  So, they went to tackling this arduous task of removing it.  Mind you, cement stucco is no easy task.  That stuff is bitterly heavy.  I made it my work to clean up around the house all the bits of debris left behind by the framers (since their mission was speed) including stucco chunks big and small, nails, glass and the like.

Here is the wall from the inside, starting to come down:

Here is a short video showing some of the wall coming down:

Almost done:

Gabe also had to score the stucco on the front of the house where the intersection will be with the stucco and the siding we attach (we haven't decided yet between Hardiplank and cedar siding).  That was a messy job, not to mention that the ladder Gabe bought cheap off Craig's list was old and fiberglass pieces were shedding off onto him!!  The ladder will need an additional paint job.

The next day, we brought over to the house the Jacuzzi tub that Dad had been storing in his garage for quite some time, as well as the re-used water tank.  It had been in the house previous to our renovation and needed the rust to be sanded down and re-spray painted.

Here's the tub!

I was the gopher/photographer in the morning while the guys finished framing in the wall that we had taken out the day previous.  They also worked to maintain the hole for the window in the 1st floor bathroom.

They finished that (short of wrapping it with Tyvek) and were eager to start on the stairwell.  Dad had spent a good while drawing up the stringer (the part of the stairs that goes up the side and the treads sit on it) on the 2' X 12' so they could cut it out.  It takes great precision--stair risers must vary no less than 3/4" step to step to comply with codes--so no horsing around with that!

Shortly thereafter, Mom brought over lunch after she had finished leading a bird walk in the morning.  It was a nice picnic of bologna sandwiches on our pile of lumber on the living room floor!!

I had been dreading our task after lunch.  Mom and I were planning on removing all the heart pine lumber in the crawl space.  This would be the second task that was made harder with poor planning.  The framers closed in the crawl space without removing the hardwood, so we had to go into the tight crawl space and extract very long pieces of reclaimed heart pine lumber.  Man, was that a chore!!!  I'm glad I had a partner in crime.  At that time of day, we had a little bit of shade to work with, so that was nice.

Here we are, taking a much needed break!

All of the heart pine lumber was getting picked up by a local lumber company later in the week so that they could clean it up and plane it down so we can re-use it.  We needed to get it into a pile and cover it with plastic, so that is what we did.

Meanwhile, the guys made some good progress on the stairwell, but they didn't finish it.  

They finished the platform, which two steps will lead up to it on the front, and then the risers will turn to the left and go up to connect with the second floor.

We needed to leave early to meet some friends for dinner, so we cleaned up shop, organized a bit and then called it a day.  

Hopefully next weekend we can finish the stairs and button up the framing on the east side.  The porch framing is the next big thing, but that can only move forward with a revision of the permit getting approved by the county government.  Here's hoping!!

Finished (sub)Floors!

Insulating the floors was a task that required just grinning and get it done.  Crawling on the gravelly floor and nailing foam sheets to the joists from the underside does not sound like my idea of fun!!  It's a good thing my husband is a diligent man....of course Dad and I helped, but I think the insulation award goes to Gabe.

We had started a couple of weeks ago with the insulation on the dining room/kitchen side, but couldn't finish due to the roof support that was rigged up.  So, we rigged up another support that would rest on top of the floor joist, since it had been on a cinder block on the floor up until then.  Gabe finished it up and then crawled out the crawl space entrance:

Dad and I worked to cut the material around the rubble foundation, which took couple tries:

After that was done, it was pretty much smooth sailing until right before the end.  I was gopher extraordinaire (and photographer) which was pretty necessary that day, as it's really inconvenient to get anywhere when you are stuck working under and in-between floor joists!!  Here's a couple photos of the guys at work:

He is willing the tape measure into his hand

Here is a shot of more cut polystyrene around the foundation:

I had to get a picture of Gabe from the perspective of the crawl space!

Home stretch for the polystyrene....

We also had a neighbor stop by to offer to bush-hog the backyard.  We gave him a set amount and he started mowing and weed whacking.  He came back the next day with a different attachment.  It was a good thing, since the grass had gotten hay worthy and we didn't have a mower on site.  How nice!!

The next day, after a delicious pancakes and bacon breakfast, I went on some errands with Mom while Dad and Gabe got started on the house.  As soon as I got there around 11, Gabe was eager to tell me he had a task for me.  Yesterday, I had been getting a bit disillusioned about my helpfulness (as a gopher) so giving me an "important" task was a good move on his part!  :)  His back had been paining him lately so it worked out for me to be the one to staple down the fill insulation.  They had cut plenty of fill insulation and stapled a few of them in place, so I had my work cut out for me (haha).

On a slightly sour note, a couple days previous, Dad had visited the site to find someone had dumped some spoiled food in our dumpster!!  Needless to say, we were not pleased.  Boy, did it stink!  When we got there on Friday, Dad and Gabe dug and dumped dirt on the problem areas, since getting the dumpster removed would be too expensive, since it wasn't even half full.  When we got there on Saturday, more had been dumped!  This time, it was less offensive, being weird old things, including some Spiderman bedsheets.....sheesh!  Here is a complimentary visual:

Not to mention the signs I picked up that morning reinforcing the message that we do not want anymore such items in our dumpster!

So, Saturday, we had quite the system worked out, Dad would cut the insulation pieces since he was donned in long sleeves and gloves:

I would staple said pieces to floor joists---here is a video to detail the experience:

Boy, were my hamstrings sore after a day with that staple hammer   !

And Gabe would employ himself with things like fitting the insulation into the holes so I could be an efficient stapler ;)

Sprayed Boro-care on plywood to go on the floor:

And move plywood and tools from one end of the room to the other, so we could get the insulation under there too.

Mom stopped by and we had a nice picnic lunch right in our living room!

How lovely--split pea soup and egg salad sandwiches taste so good to the laborer!

The funny thing about putting insulation in the floor is that it provides a false sense of floor, because a foot would go straight through if you try to walk anywhere but the floor joists!!  

Ta da!!

Dad then left for the day around 4:00.  The last task was to somehow seal the leaks in the roof so that the new insulation laid wouldn't get wet.  The north addition has a sneaky way of being wet every time we come on the weekend.  Sooo, Gabe asked me to get the ladder out from under the porch, and no sooner did I step foot under did a wasp sting my leg!!  So, I sat that last chore out while I nursed my bee sting with a mud patty.  I remembered a tip from my youth to do so since it would draw the sting out (had it been that long since I had been stung??!?).

Gabe spent a good hour up on the roof finagling around with a sore back and without a helper.

Now the only thing left to do before the plywood subfloor gets glued and nailed down is an inspection. It was scheduled for the next Tuesday.  Lo and behold, it passed and we could move forward!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The next weekend, I wasn't going to make it out on Saturday.  Gabe unexpectedly had to work late on Friday, so we didn't make the trip.  Gabe went by himself and made a day of it with Dad on Saturday.

Apparently, the plastic Gabe put on the roof worked for the most part.

At least he took pictures of the new floors!!

Here are a few:

They started with the southwest corner

They had to cut the 4' X 8' sheets at the ends in order to stagger them.  Notice these boards have been sprayed on the side facing down with the Boro-care, the mildew, mold and termite resistant treatment, previously and will be sprayed on the top face later when the framing gets sprayed.

It was a lot of bending over to glue and nail every board down, so it was a good thing Gabe bought a back brace for the task!

The studs running down the center of the building, right under where the metal I-beam will be placed that will later be removed, needed to be braced while the subfloor got slipped under them:

And then temporarily re-supported:

Remember this?

Now this:

Just notice the exhaust pipe in both and the door hole boarded over in the second.  Major transformation, huh?

The last corner was particularly hard to get nailed into place since, once it is down, it is hard line the grooves up into the edges.

Voila!  if I do say so myself :)

Looking one direction

Looking the other direction

The rest of the floors (in the existing bathroom and porch areas) will not be insulated, so it will be easier to lay those floors.  Also, since the floor joist run perpendicularly, plywood will need to be cut lengthways, requiring our table saw.  So, next weekend it is!  We also plan on removing the rest of the heart pine floors from the upstairs and meeting framers to discuss the next plan of action: FRAMING!!!!  

Soooo excited to see the structure come together.......

'Til next time!

Memorial Day Weekend

Back so soon?  Why yes!  We bypassed a Memorial weekend trip away to the beach to stay home and work on the house.  What a sacrifice, I know!!  :D  Jk, there were other things holding us back as well, which made the decision to stay easier--a visit from my brother Ian, and a friends wedding.

We (when I say we, I mean "I") are learning we have to be committed to this project.  Dad and our timeline help motivate us to stay on task.

We came to the house, as per usual, on Friday afternoon, working about 5 hours.  We were gearing up for a scorcher of a weekend.  Humidity was high, so we packed lots of water.  It was good we didn't have to do too much unshaded work.  I worked predominantly that day on cleaning up the perimeter of the main space.  The crawl space needed to be vacuumed since we created so much debris and mess taking out the stairwell.  It's a good thing we had a wet/dry vac...we had to empty it out a couple of times.  I also vacuumed out the crevices along the walls where most of the plaster and debris would fall.  Eventually we will be closing up the walls again, and we don't want to leave cobwebs in there if we can help it!  Gabe and Dad worked on removing all the pieces of the stairs remaining.

There were some small pieces of heart pine under all of it, so we kept them, and I took the nails out of those boards.  Once that was done, they removed some of the ledger board that was rotting on either side.

Here Gabe is working on removing few remaining rotten floor joists:

Then Gabe filled in the top of the stone rubble foundation with a flat mortar base for the new ledger board to sit on top of.

Here I am doing the cleaning duty I do best...

With all the debris clean up and how hot it was, we really needed a shower, bad!

The next day, Saturday, we didn't make it out to the house, since Gabe helped a couple friends move and then we went to a wedding later that day.  My bro Ian was home for the weekend and wanted to help out, so he and Dad went out to the house for a couple of hours.  They were able to nail in some joist hangers for the joists that were hung last weekend and remove the rest of the bricks off of the porch.

We came out to Mom & Dad's on Sunday afternoon and enjoyed a good meal for Ian's birthday at a nearby vineyard with stunning views.  We were in vacation mode when we came out earlier that day, so Gabe forgot his tool bag that he brings from home every weekend (for security sake), so we were a little bit handicapped the next day when we went out to the house to work.

Day 32, Monday was really hot, and there was only a slight breeze.  They had ripped some 2 X 8 pressure treated boards down with the table saw at Mom & Dad's before we left, to use as the ledger board.  On site, Gabe first sawed down the studs so the ledger board would fit under them.

Then, Gabe and Dad placed it on top of the smooth surfaces Gabe created previously with the concrete.

They spent a little bit longer than expected getting it level and getting it to fit under the studs.  The board had to be trimmed out in certain spots, so it was about an hour going back and forth trying to get it to fit.

While they were doing this, I was securing joist hangers:

Action shot!

Once they got the ledger board in place, Gabe let me use the nail gun.  It was heavy!  Here is a short video detailing the experience:

It was the supported by two more boards, side by side, nailed into place.

The last joist in the main area, that had previously been hidden under the stairs was finally supported like the others with a 2 X 10 and leveled and blocked to the ledger board, as seen below:

Gabe works to secure the two areas together, even though it is under the one wall and really awkward to get to:

Since we didn't have all the tools we needed, we called it a day earlier than usual.

Gabe's last tasks of the day were to attach the remaining joists to the porch section (future kitchen area), two on the south end and one on the north.  Here he is finishing up the one on the north end:

Here is an interior shot looking east, down to the bare bones!!  Doesn't it look good??!? (it kinda looks like a robot face...hehe)

The board below on the diagonal is the one that will hold up the addition when we remove the rotten sections from it next time:

There was a little bit more cleaning up to do.  Mom stopped by with a large box fan since it was so hot, but we were winding down at that point.  She helped us organize the place and I cleaned up the debris down below and we called it a day.

                                                                                         Cleaning up shop!                                     All clean!!!